2 Virginia police officers arrested for their insurrectionist roles....

[634-5789]

Prison for these two 'To serve and protect' assholes

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. They & 99% of the mob thought white privilege would protect them. . . . nt

[apnu]

7. Unconsciously

I highly doubt they consciously think about privilege.

You listen to their early and immediate excuses for doing this, where they were boasting or being interviewed during the hours of the attack, there is no sense of privilege or mention of it. There is righteous fury, there is declarations of ownership, there's a sense of revolution and taking perceived allowed actions.

Privilege is something that's taught subliminally for most white people. We don't consciously think of it, we often can't tell we are doing it or we are receiving special treatment from it. It simply 'is' for us.

We white people have to see privilege and then unlearn it. This is the process I went through and it took years of unlearning.

But the insurrectionists, are not consciously relying on white privilege's to protect them, they genuinely thought what they were doing was legal and proper. That would only be true, if they'd won the day, and held the Capitol for the days after. The privilege is under all that, unconscious and poisonous.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. That's how white privilege operates, just assumed and all-pervasive. But not assumed by all whites

White supremacists recognize democracy as the biggest threat to their privilege.

[apnu]

16. That's a true statement.

White supremacy, any racism for that matter, is fundamentally anti-democratic.

[marmar]

17. Yep, because it usually has.

[still_one]

2. Good, and regardless of the outcome of any possible indictment or trial, they should also be

terminated from employment as law enforcement for participating in that mob and insurection

[struggle4progress]

3. Officers on administrative leave

... “The Rocky Mount Police Department is aware that two off-duty officers were present at an event in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. The Town of Rocky Mount fully supports all lawful expressions of freedom of speech and assembly by its employees but does not condone the unlawful acts that occurred that day.

Based on the available information, the Police Department has notified federal authorities and the individuals that were present at the event are on administrative leave pending review.”

https://www.wfxrtv.com/news/local-news/roanoke-valley-news/two-rocky-mount-police-officers-who-attended-pro-trump-rally-in-d-c-placed-on-administrative-leave/

[struggle4progress]

4. Officers ordered to stay away from DC, protests

by Elizabeth Thomas
Wednesday, January 13th 2021

... Both Robertson and Fracker were released on unsecured bonds, but Magistrate Judge Robert Ballou ordered the men to stay away from Washington D.C. and to not participate in any public demonstrations.

The Justice Dept. had asked the judge to require GPS monitoring, but Judge Ballou declined, citing their status as law enforcement and their records of military service.

As a condition of their release, Judge Ballou ordered Sgt. Robertson and Ofc. Fracker to turn over any firearms they own by close of business Friday, and to remain at their homes ...

https://wset.com/news/local/rocky-mount-officers-charged-in-capitol-riot-ordered-to-stay-away-from-dc-protests

[ProfessorGAC]

6. "...and their records of military service."

What? They don't need GPS monitoring because they were cops & were ex-military?
Those two facts were reasons they SHOULD NOT have been there!
They took a military oath to DEFEND the country. They took an LE oath to uphold the law. They did neither.
The justification for declining the GPS monitoring request should have been the mitigating factor to grant it.
This judge seems kind of stupid!

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. Yes, it makes them more dangerous

They sure as hell can't claim ignorance of the law (as a mitigating circumstance) and they are well trained in the use of weapons

[DeminPennswoods]

14. A great reason why LE should stop recruiting ex-military

as cops.

[JonLP24]

15. Only the authoritarian ones want to join the police

Most weren't like in the service that but they don't become cops when they leave.

I will say compared to police departments the military has a UCMJ and they keep their own troops in line, sometimes they go too far in doing that. They have strong professional leaders though not all of them.

Right now troops are guarding Washington DC. They are not letting anyone close no matter who they support.

[ProfessorGAC]

25. I'm In!

I think it should, at the very least, be eliminated as a preferential reason to hire them.
It certainly is now.

[JonLP24]

26. MPs have police experience

On base military police are the local police.

If I was in law enforcement I would be assisting the DOJ best I could collecting evidence on right wing extremists.

I'm a veteran against police brutality.

[ProfessorGAC]

28. Yeah, I Know

Our friend (older brother of wife's college roommate) was an MP in the latest days of Vietnam.
He rose to captain of a PD in a town of 180,000 where we all grew up. He died a couple years ago.
I was on the board of a $250 million dollar credit union with him for around 10 years.
I don't object to ex-military being hired. But, today it's a preferential factor.
I don't think that's a good idea.
If someone was an MP, that police experience is already preferred. Extra preferences can lead to bad judgment in hiring. Too easy to rubber stamp.

[DeminPennswoods]

29. Hiring MPs would be fine with me

That would be the only exception I'd make to hiring ex-military. The other service members are trained in an entirely different mission than civilian policing. They are expected to engage and defeat an enemy; that's not what police are supposed to do.

[DFW]

5. One has to wonder

Either of these guys wouldn't have hesitated to draw their guns and order someone onto the ground with their arms and legs spread if they caught someone breaking into the local 7-11 in the town where they work(ed). And yet they think they can break into the building that is the seat of the legislative branch of the government of the United States, and THAT should be without consequences?

What sense of law and order do these people have anyway, and how did they acquire it?

[uponit7771]

8. +1, they all looked like they were on tour

[EarthFirst]

9. You'd think these two would know the consequences to breaking and entering...

Going to be an uphill battle for the defense strategy for these two...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. Woman shot was Breaking & Entering secured area. . . . nt

[pfitz59]

11. Something I posted on FB

All these off-duty cops caught invading the Capitol should be charged as accessories to murder. Most jurisdictions have contracts that state a cop is never really "off-duty" and is obliged to render assistance to other police in distress. Not just ignoring an on-going crime, but aiding and abetting? Shame....

[triron]

12. Thugs, white supremacists.

[triron]

19. knr

[Dem2]

20. They look the part

Thugs.

[triron]

21. knr 1000 times

[dustyscamp]

22. I hope they both get lengthy sentences

Link to tweet

“CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the GOVERNMENT who is the problem and not some random small business … The right IN ONE DAY took the f**** U.S. Capitol. Keep poking us,” said Rocky Mount Police Officer Thomas Robertson

[hatrack]

23. Well, well - two dumbass redneck small town cops from western Virginia thought they had a permit

They didn't.

Rocky Mount is a town in and the county seat of Franklin County, Virginia, United States.[3] The town is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, and had a population of 4,799 as of the 2010 census.[4] It is located in the Roanoke Region of Virginia.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mount,_Virginia

[Wounded Bear]

24. And people wonder why we need police reform...

Sure "Defund the Police" was a bellwether term that turned off the righties, but the country as a whole needs a huge enema of our LEO community. We need to stop with the willy-nilly bullshit from the Clinton era and "put 100,000 cops on the streets" and start paying attention to who in the hell we hire for the job and we need to train and prepare them far more fully than we have. Most European countries train their police far longer than we do here in the states. Their cops tend to get months of training instead of weeks.

And yeah, as a veteran I can assure you that it is no guarantor of proper attitude and behavior of individuals when placed in positions of power and responsibility.

[JonLP24]

27. Defund the police is a solution to problems

Than more training.

It is the laws. There is qualified immunity. We need national standards. I support reducing police budgets & funding social services.

I'm not that interested in what turns off the right wing when they stormed the Capitol and tried to kidnap Whitmer. We are lucky we didn't have any political assassinations this year and the threats were from right wing extremists.